STANDLEY TKEES AND SHRUBS OF MEXICO. 385 



4. Calliandra anomala (Kunth) Macbride, Contr. Gray Herb, n. ser. 59: -4, 



1919. 



Inga anomala Kunth, Mimos. PI. Legum. 70. pi. 22 1819-24. 



AcacUi callistemon Scblecht. Linnaea 12: 568. 1838. 



Calliandra kunthii Benth. in Hook. Journ. Bot. 2: 139. 1840. 



Chihuahua to Sinaloa, Mexico, and Chiapas. Guatemala. 



Shrub, 1 to 4.5 meters high, with blackish bark ; leaflets very numerous, linear- 

 oblong, 2.5 to 5 mm. long ; flowers purple, showy ; fruit densely hirsute or hispid. 

 "Cabeza de angel" (Mexico) ; " cabellos de angel" (Guanajuato, Costa Rica, 

 Guatemala, Honduras) ; " pambetano " (Morelos, Valley of Mexico, Veracruz) ; 

 "cabellitos de dngel " (Morelos); " cabellitos de una vara" (Morelos, Rami- 

 rez); " hierba del angel," " lele " (various localities, Ramirez); " tepachera " 

 " timbrillo " (Valley of Mexico, Ramirez); " tepexiloxochitl " or " tepejiloxo- 

 chitl " (=mountain-f corn silk+flower), " texoxochitl " " tlacoxiloxochitl " 

 (=rod or bush+corn silk+flower), " tlamacazatzotl," " tzonxochitl," " xiloxo- 

 chitl," " xiloxochicuahuitl" (the shrub) (Nahuatl) ; '• canela," "hierba de 

 canela " (Oaxaca, Reko) ; " coquito " Oaxaca, Seler) ; " carboncillo " (Cosia 

 Rica) ; " cabellito " (Sinaloa). 



The plant is sometimes used for tanning. The root is used to retard fermenta- 

 tion in a drink, " tepache," made from pulque and coarse sugar. The plant is 

 said to contain a glucoside, calliandrine. In domestic medicine it is used for 

 fevers, especially malaria, although experiments have indicated that Its repu- 

 tation for this purpose is not justified. 



The plant is treated at length by Hernandez' in a chapter entitled " De 

 TlacoxiloxoGhitl flore Barbato," which is accompanied by three good figures. 

 His account is as follows : " Tlacoxiloxochitl, which some call TentzonxocMtl 

 [=beard-flower], some Tlautacazcatacotl [= priest-bush], and others Tepea^tJoa^o- 

 chitl or TIalxilochtl [=dwarf hair-flower], is a shrub with leaves like mes- 

 quite. The flowers are like long red hair, and they come from round reddish 

 berries. The root is fibrous, yellow outside, and red within when it is cut. The 

 stalks are red and the pods yellow. It grows in level or mountainous places 

 and sometimes along streams. The root bark is dry and astringent and some- 

 what glutinous ; its nature is hot, in the third order, and its flavor sharp. The 

 flowers, crushed, mixed with water, and used as drops, are a wonderful remedy 

 for diseases of the eye, for they correct inflammation and remove morbid growths, 

 and heal ulcers. If the decoction or infusion of the juice is drunk, it stops 

 diarrhoea and dysentery, t^timulates the appetite, and relieves indigestion. There 

 be those who say also that it soothes the chest, relieves the belly, removes the 

 bile by vomiting, and is also a remedy for coughs." 



This species has usually been known as Calliayidra grandiflora (L'H6r) 

 Benth., but as pointed out recently by Macbride'' that name can scarcely apply 

 to the common Mexican species. Macbride states that " There is no reasonable 

 doubt but that it is rather referable ^ to C. hovstoni (L'Her.) Benth.," but the 

 same objections that prevent its application to the common Mexican plant also 

 prevent its reference to synonomy under the latter species. 



5. Calliandra calothyrsus Meissn. Linnaea 21: 251. .1848. 



Chiapas, Central America and northern South America ; type from Surinam. 

 Erect shrub, nearly glabrous ; leaflets very numerous, 3 to 7 mm. long, linear. 



6. Calliandra palmeri S. Wats. Proc. Amer. Acad. 22: 410. 1887. 

 Known only from the type locality, Guadalajara, Jalisco. 



^ Thesaurus 104. 1651. 



'Contr. Gray Herb. n. ser. 59: 5. 1919. 



